Powder tobias wolff essay

Billy’s help: Billy’s tribe was massacred by “big mob gudeeah…big mob politjmans, and big mob from stations”, forcing him to work for the white people in order to survive. Although Billy works for Neal, Neal is still racist towards him by “[throwing] a stick of tobacco onto the floor” for him to pick up, treating him as a slave. Billy is also hated by other Aborigines, such as the children who call him “black crow” – a traitor. However, Billy tells Joe to “back sit down” in his country and gives Joe his whip as a parting gift to help him catch rabbits, snakes and “bungarra”. This symbolizes his connection to his race – his “family”, which even the power of racism cannot break.

Through strategic comparisons with other itinerant workers and victims of the depression, such as Frank Brown, Davis shows how Indigenous Australians suffer a far worse fate. Owing to their disadvantaged social status their problems are magnified and they are more easily exploited. White unemployed people get 7 shillings per week; an Aboriginal Australian gets 2 shillings and fourpence per week. The Sergeant’s attitude is typical of law-enforcement officers who believe that the “natives” are lazy and should do a decent day’s work.

9/13/2012 The Private Paradise
“My Backyard” by Peter Lu, performed by Sonia Manzano
“A Room of My Own” by Alanna Okun, performed by Rita Wolf
“Heirloom China” by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, performed by Sonia Manzano
“Jonathan’s” by Teo Soares, performed by David Rakoff
“Reading Aloud,” by Marina Keegan, performed by Rita Wolf
“Your Mother and I,” by Dave Eggers performed by David Rakoff
“Visit” by Barry Yourgrau,” read by James Naughton